KVH Reports First Quarter Earnings

[Via Satellite 05-02-2014] KVH Industries reported a 7 percent decrease in revenue during the first fiscal quarter of 2014. Total revenue was $37 million. The company’s fiber optic gyro solutions, TACNAV military navigation systems and related services were down 53 percent year over year to 8 million. KVH expected this decline after revenues ceased from a large Saudi Arabian National Guard contract. Other parts of the company’s business experienced double-digit growth. Mobile communications increased 27 percent year over year, and maritime VSAT airtime revenues increased 37 percent compared to the same quarter last year. Maritime satellite television sales dropped by 9 percent, which the company attributed to an unseasonably cold North American spring accompanied by a temporary component shortage for one of KVH’s popular TracVision products that resulted in exiting the quarter with more backlog than normal.

“We continue to be encouraged with the progress we are making in building our mobile broadband business,” said Martin A. Kits van Heyningen, president and CEO of KVH. “Our mini-VSAT Broadband service continues to expand and we were pleased that an April 2014 research report from the internationally-recognized firm Euroconsult, estimated that our share of the maritime VSAT market is now 26 percent. This is up from 16 percent published in a Euroconsult report two years ago, and they estimated our market share as double that of our next closest competitor. We have also just launched a new series of TracVision satellite TV products that are compatible with the next generation of TV satellites, which will begin shipping in the second quarter. In addition, we are now live with our new IP-MobileCast service.”